2014 Reading Stats

Best in Books

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – I absolutely fell in love with this book and it reaffirmed my love of reading.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira – I liked it, but I didn’t love it.

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read in 2014?

The Atlantis World by A.G. Riddle – I was all around surprised by just how much I liked this series as a whole.

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did) In 2014?

I have suggested to some people that they should read Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Trilogy not sure whether or not they have.

5. Best Series You Started in 2014? Best Sequel of 2014? Best Series Ender of 2014?

Best Series: The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry, read the whole series this year and loved it.

Best Sequel of 2014: The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Agesby Brandon Sanderson, the second and third books of his Mistborn Trilogy since I read the first novel November of 2013.

Best Series Ender of 2014: Son by Lois Lowry is the perfect ending to The Giver Quartet

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2014?

Stephanie Binding, after reading and reviewing both of her novels and actually having the opportunity to talk to her about her work she is definitely an author whose work I will be looking out for in the future.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

Sylvia’s Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell, I don’t normally read a lot of classic literature but I read this for an English class and fell in love with the story.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

Action-Packed/Thrilling: The Origin Mystery Trilogy by A.G. Riddle

Unputdownable: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

9. Book You Read in 2014 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read in 2015?

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, I tend to read this one every year around Christmas time as my own personal reading tradition.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2014?

I just find the cover of The Night Circus to be absolutely beautiful in its simplicity.

11. Most memorable character of 2014?

Vin from Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Trilogy. She is an imperfect protagonist who only acts because she truly feels it is in everyone’s best interest and not just her own.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2014?

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira, I loved that the book was written as a series of letters – it really was beautiful in its own tragic way.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/Life-Changing Book of 2014?

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira – it teaches about difficult subjects of facing difficult memories, forgiveness, and understanding the dangers of idolizing someone.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2014 to finally read?

Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Trilogy – Kyle, one of my best friends, had been trying to get me to read the series for years and I kept putting it off and I so regret that now that I have read them.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote from a book you read in 2014?

“I am tired of trying to hold things together that cannot be held. Trying to control what cannot be controlled. I am tired of denying myself what I want for fear of breaking things I cannot fix. They will break no matter what we do.” – Celia, from The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read in 2014?

Shortest: Autumn Recovery by Stephanie Binding, 139 pages

Longest: His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, 946 pages

17. Book That Shocked You The Most?

Lois Lowry’s The Giver Quartet, specifically Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son were shocking since I hadn’t read them or even known just how much more there was to the world of The Giver.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)

Celia X Marco, Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus

Lyra X Will, Philip Pullmans His Dark Materials are my runner up – there is just so much to their relationship and their inevitable separation breaks my heart every time.

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship of the Year

Sazed and Tindwyl from Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy – While it is true that they did love each other, we are never able to witness just how their love would have developed over time sadly.

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2014 From an Author You’ve Read Previously

I’m just going to answer this question as if it were asking me what my favorite re-read was and that was J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings which always take me back to a happier time.

21. Best Book You Read in 2014 That You Read Based SOLELY On a Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure?

Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy – Kyle’s fault suggestion.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2014?

I’m actually not big on book crushes, so I don’t have an answer for this one.

23. Best 2014 debut you read?

Ava Dellaira’s debut Love Letters to the Dead is the only debut novel I read in 2014 and it was lovely.

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

Tolkien’s Middle Earth takes it with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

25. Book That Put a Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

Lois Lowry’s The Giver was the most fun for me to read because it was a re-read, my first read through was when I was in seventh grade – I picked up on so much more this time around compared to when I was 12 years old.

26. Book That Made You Cry or Nearly Cry in 2014?

I cried at the end of Philip Pulman’s His Dark Materials I do each time I read it and Brandon Sanderson’s The Hero of Ages left me doing an ugly cry filled with huge sobs, but it was so worth it.

27. Hidden Gem of the Year?

A.G. Riddle’s The Origin Mystery trilogy was most definitely my hidden gem, I had never heard of it before and was extremely pleased with it after my read through.

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

Again, Brandon Sanderson’s The Hero of Ages completely crushed my soul in all the right ways.

29. Most Unique Book You Read in 2014?

I think that would be Ava Dellaira’s Love Letters to the Dead just because of the book’s format.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (Doesn’t Necessarily Mean You Didn’t Like It)?

Stephanie Binding’s Desolate made me the most frustrated just because I didn’t agree with Camilla’s decision towards the end of the book.

Truth be told, I wish I had known about the various bookish memes there are in the book blog community because I would have loved to have participated in them this year, but there is always next year. I have enjoyed participating in my own weekly posts, i.e. My Thoughts Monday/Want to Read Wednesday/Friday Reads. My favorite event was #BookBlogWriMo, I am just sad that I wasn’t able to finish it because of how sick I got half way through the month of November.

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2014?

The day that I hit 100 followers on Reviews of a Self Proclaimed Bibliophile was a huge moment for me, I never imagined that I would reach so many followers and I feel privileged to have each and everyone one of you.

6. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

My book review of Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, this was my favorite book of the year and I wanted to capture that sentiment in my review – I mean, what bibliophile doesn’t want to share their favorite book with the world? I guess that is why I always hoped that this one would get more love than it has.

9. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

I tried to, but sadly I didn’t. I went through a very bad reading slump this summer and ended up missing my Goodreads reading challenge by 52 books, my goal was 75. I thought I could do it because I had managed to read 50 books in 2013, but that slump just hit me hard. I am looking to have a smaller reading goal, probably closer to 36 or something for 2015.

Looking Ahead

1. One Book You Didn’t Get to in 2014 but Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2015?

I will be looking to finish Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon Series by reading the last novel in the series Infeno next.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating for 2015 (non-debut)?

Shadows of Self, book 5 in the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. This book is the sequel to Sanderson’s Alloy of Law which takes place 300 years after the conclusion of the Mistborn trilogy we are familiar with. I haven’t yet read Alloy of Law, but I do own it and plan on reading it.

3. 2015 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard – I blame Hazat for pointing out this book to me, we will both read it and then suffer through the waiting game together…yes, yes we will.

4. Series Ending/Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2015?

See my answer to question two, otherwise I am not sure which sequels or conclusions are being released next year.

5. One Thing You Hope to Accomplish or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life in 2015?

I want to participate in more community wide blogging events, i.e. weekly memes. I would honestly love a master list of all of the ones which take place so I can add them to my blogging arsenal (if someone does this for me I will love you forever<3).

6. A 2015 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend to Everyone?

I wish I had been this lucky, sadly I don’t have any recommendations that meet this criteria.

This was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed looking at my bookish year and am looking forward to the next.

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7 Comments

It really is an amazing story. It gives a great amount of insight into coming of age in the wake of personal tragedy. I think the letters also helped to give us some insight into just how Laurel felt about her sister. Let me know what you think about it after you’ve read it!

I may have seen it in person, but it has been a while so I may not be remembering it right but will check it out the next time I go shopping. Since I typically read ebooks I miss out on some of the aesthetics sadly. I wish I could take credit for the comments and how they show up but it is a feature of the “Flounder” theme. Thanks for the comment!